Critical Failure
by Razer Athane
Summary: Not everything has to be a success. Every shot doesn't have to be deadly perfect. Sometimes its better if you can't pull the trigger. Sometimes its better if your mission becomes a critical failure. -Bryan x Nina, Oneshot-


**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tekken.

**Author's Note:** I know what you're thinking... What. The. _Fuck_? Am I right? Tell me if I'm wrong, people, but that, I believe, is what you're currently thinking. Why a Bryan Fury x Nina Williams pairing? Well, the answer is simple. You know the pairings you and I enjoy? Xiaoyu x Jin? Hwoarang x Julia? Its always so contstant, and around the same bloody people - Xiaoyu, Jin, Hwoarang, Julia, Asuka, Jun, Kazuya...

Now, I have _nothing _against them or anything - I really do enjoy these pairings, especially if the writer has got a buckload of talent, such as Sage Pagan and Madame Batolli... Its just I feel that we need some originality into this section, in the very least in terms of pairings. I'm sick of seeing them recycled over and over. With the same. Fucking. Plot. As well. I mean, sure, I'm not helping this situation, what with my Xiaoyin 'Hard And Fast', and my Xiaorang 'The Coffee Shop', (though I'm trying to at least have the plot different to other fics... Hey, dunno if its working, but whatever! XD), but the least I can do is bring something new to the table...

After some encouragement from Thunderxtw, I've decided to do this, and I've wanted to do this pairing for a long time... A really long time. As in, at least a month or two since I started playing Tekken (so that'd be... what... a year now? Yeah. I just wanted to see what it'd be like). I mean, I'm not a huge Bryan fan, and I do like Nina (not as much as, say, Hwoarang for example), but I'm willing to try new things with new characters... So, here's my one shot. Hope you enjoy it :D

* * *

**CRITICAL FAILURE**

* * *

"This is your target."

The photo was slammed hard on the wooden desk, and pushed towards Nina Williams. Her slim white fingers grasped the edge, lifting it off the table, her cold, steely blue eyes taking in the individual present in the still image.

"Destroy him."

The person in the image appeared to be in his late twenties, early thirties. He had deathly white hair, a well defined body, a tattoo on his neck, and was definitely a fighter. His eyes were what got her interest the most, not that she cared. This person's eyes seemed to match her own.

Cold. Unfeeling. Dark.

The assassin smirked, looking up for a brief moment at her elderly employer, before tucking the photograph away into her pocket. She stood up, chair legs screeching across the floor, and looked back down at the light brown desk, nodding slightly, accepting her new order. She had taken special care in listening to the briefing, noting how in particular that this target would be difficult to assassinate... Most probably impossible.

That didn't scare her. She wanted to try anyway. Fuck the consequences.

But still... It wasn't supposed to happen this way. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

The Irish woman followed her target to a bar the next day, a hand gun safely tucked away in her hand bag, keeping an eye on him. She had followed him today to monitor his activities, see what he was like, see how he reacted to certain things around him... Just to see him in person, before she killed him later on (or tonight, if she felt she could).

With an agitated sigh, she had taken up an empty bar stool, about three or four away from her target. The bartender immediately came up and asked if she wanted anything, to which she only replied 'water'. Nina couldn't have her senses fucked up. She couldn't afford to be intoxicated, not whilst she was observing the enemy, not while she had a weapon with her and could wrongly murder an innocent individual. Not that she cared.

The older Williams sister rested her hands on the table, looking at them, listening to her target speak to two women who had approached him. From the corner of her eye, she could see that one was a brunette with a painfully large attention-seeking laugh, and the other was a black-haired female with painfully large breasts. Their antics reminded her of Anna, to an extent... That critical failure of a human being.

Judging by the accent, her target was a brash, over-confident American who prided himself on his physical prowess and that typical 'I kick ass' attitude. Nina rolled her eyes, taking her glass of water from the waiting bartender's hands, and took a sip lazily, staring into space, still listening to her target prattle on to the two sluts nearby. It appeared the current topic was the size of his manhood. _Definitely _eyeroll worthy.

She had learnt over the night (that is, before he collected his two admirers and left to presumably a hotel, or his apartment) that his name was Bryan Fury, and that he used to be a cop. He was American, 31-years-old, and was a seemingly dark and selfish person. A very selfish person indeed. She could hear it in the way he spoke.

As he left, she looked around for a brief moment, seeing that no one was watching her. She pulled out her hand gun and took aim in the public place, not to shoot, but to see if she could hit him and kill him successfully. The people here were probably drunk enough, and stupid enough, to consider the possibility that the weapon was a toy. Closing one eye, Nina indeed found that if she acted quickly and pulled the trigger, she could've got a clean shot right in the back of Bryan's head. Blood and brains would've been everywhere.

The assassin heard the bartender's heavy footsteps returning. She quickly slipped her hand gun back into her handbag, and turned away from the exit, cold, steely-blue eyes still fixed on the door, and took another sip of her water. With her free hand, she adjusted her blonde ponytail, deciding to stay in the bar for another half an hour or so before making her leave. She saw the enemy. It was soon time to meet him.

* * *

Tomorrow couldn't have come quick enough. Nina searched throughout the city, trying to locate Fury. Her first stop was the police station, and her second was the bar she had found him in the previous night. Neither showed signs of her target. A majority of her day was spent pointlessly wandering around, keeping a keen eye out for that white hair.

After many hours of searching, had found him slipping out of an alleyway, black t-shirt happily hugging his torso, accompanied by his snake skin pants, black boots and gloves. She squinted, seeing blood on his fingertips. Curiosity got the better of her, and without hesitance, she peeked around the corner he had just come from. A dark smile formed on her lips.

She wasn't supposed to see that. She wasn't supposed to see a man that he appeared to have killed. The man... Not even a man, a teenager, lying there in the alley, his neck snapped, twisted, going in directions it wasn't supposed to go. Williams spotted an unused dagger in the youth's hand. He probably tried to mug Bryan.

And it ended in a critical failure. He was now dead, left to decay in the foul urban maze.

Hours continued to slither by, and many times Nina found her opportunity to assassinate him. However, she didn't fire. The one thing stopping her from pulling the trigger was the people around her. There were shooting glances at her, and mainly at the dagger sitting in its sheath on her leg. Ha! If they had seen her gun, well then... She wondered what chaos would have ensued.

One of the glances she managed to catch was none other than the super cop, Lei Wulong. His eyes had narrowed, and his gaze had darkened, indeed flared with suspicion. She was the first to look away, and continued walking after her target, still feeling his piercing gaze.

That night she had recieved a call from her employer. His voice was fraught with panic, frustration... and more panic, "Nina? Are you there? Have you completed your mission yet?"

"No."

"I told you to dispose of him! The job should've been done by now!"

Her eyes narrowed into slits as she clung to her mobile phone, "Listen here, _Doctor... _You can either have the job done _fast_, or the job done _right._ So which will it be? Would you like the job done fast, with the high possibility that Bryan will live? Or would you like it done right in which _he will _die?"

"He has destroyed one of my laboratories! It will be a matter of time before he finds _me_!"

"I don't care for your beakers and test tubes, old man. Make your decision."

She hung up, still standing in the middle of the empty street, and looked over her shoulder, suspicions alight. Someone was still standing there. She could feel the person looking at her. She felt unsettled inside, and quickly went for her dagger, gladly coated by the darkness of the night.

"So you're the one _Daddy's _sent after me."

It's Bryan. She could tell by the cold demeanour in his voice, and the way he snitted out 'Daddy'. With her dagger in one hand hand, Williams pulled out her hand gun with the other, and aimed it at him threateningly. It was not an action of fear. She was surprised, a little, and gave nothing other than a grunt in response to his statement, to clarify it.

"I hope you know what you're in for."

"Abel filled me in."

He grinned, his chuckle filling the empty street, bouncing between the walls of the closed shops, closed buildings. He took a few steps forward, his boots scuffing across the asphalt, and stopped around two metres ahead of him. Nina's aim didn't waver as he continued speaking, "Then how can you kill something that will never die?"

Her thin eyebrows furrowed, and her teeth were pressed firmer together, "Everything dies."

"Not me."

"Well, nothing lives forever."

Fury lifted his head a little, that spine tingling chuckle emitting once again. Nina could hear him crack his knuckles, as though he was ready to take a swing at her. She kept her senses alive, awaiting said strike.

The assassin dodged to the right as he came at her with two swift punches. Both missed completely, but a low kick caught her off guard. She hit the floor, but managed to regain her composure quickly, her gun hand putting the gun away, and her dagger hand helping her up. Hurriedly, she attacked back, combining the dagger with the deadly martial arts she had been trained in, with thanks to her Father, Richard Williams.

They exchanged blow for blow. The dagger managed to strike Bryan many times, going down his arm, going down his side, tearing at flesh and clothing alike. But he wouldn't go down. The Irish woman even managed to kick him where it hurts, in the family jewels, and all he did was laugh again. She growled, grabbing him, and stood behind him, holding him to her, the dagger delicately poised at his throat, ready to slice at any time.

"Care to test your immortality?" She inquired coldly.

An elbow to the face was her answer. Nina cried out in pain, taking a few steps back, dagger still loosely held in her thin fingers, clothed by her purple gloves. Her target grinned once again, his teeth catching the moon light, as reflected off the dagger.

Her blue eyes saw the shadowy form of Bryan lifting something. The object then came hurling towards her. The older Williams sister dropped her dagger and rolled out of the way of the object, which she presumed to be a random trash can, and whipped out her hand gun as quick as she was possibly able, holding it now in both hands, taking aim, finger on the trigger.

And she fired.

Smoke seeped from the end of the barrel, and invaded her nostrils. The bang still rang as clear as day in her ears, and through the empty street. There was silence aside from each individual's ragged breathing. Silence, silence, and more silence... until Bryan finally laughed.

"You're a good shot, Williams."

She stood on her feet and grabbed her dagger once more, both weapons now in her skilled hands. Nina watched as Fury approached her, until he was right up in her face, and she could _see _where she shot him...

In the dead set centre of his forehead. Her bullet was now happily lodged in his brain. She could see the blood, yet he was not lying on the ground, dead, like that youth he had slaughtered earlier that day. He was seemingly unphased completely. She took a shot, her first shot at him in this mission, where she fired, which was _absolutely perfect_, without a doubt... and it was a critical failure.

"Too bad I can't die."

A strong punch greeted the side of her head, her temple, and she blacked out before her body hit the ground.

* * *

It wasn't supposed to happen this way.

"You alright miss?"

The assassin sat up with a start, her cold, steely blue eyes wide open. She looked to her left and saw a young boy and girl, who presumably looked like brother and sister, sitting next to her. Other things she managed to gather within the first few seconds of her being awake were the brick walls on either side, and a foul stench.

She looked down, seeing her gun and her dagger by her right side, out of the children's sight and reach. After a moment, she looked straight ahead of herself, and saw the street she had been at in her last conscious state, in her scuffle with Bryan Fury, her target.

He moved her here.

"Miss?" The young male persisted for a second time.

"I'm fine."

"Oh..."

Both scurried back as the woman stood to her full height, collecting her weapons, sheathing one, and placing the other back in its holster. Her blonde hair swayed as she turned to look at the two children. Her lips twitched into a smile of her own. Others wouldn't consider it a smile... but she would. They curved upwards, very slightly. Enough for her, "Thanks."

"For what?" He asked.

"For waking me."

Nina strode away from the two siblings, grabbing her mobile phone, turning the corner, dialing Doctor Abel to inform him of her most recent developments. She hoped this would shut his wrinkly trap.

The old twit eventually answered, and she told him what had occured previously. His dark voice was once again fretful - unusual for this man. The constant theme of his current rambling was 'he knows, oh shit, he knows'. Bryan knows that Abel has sent someone out to kill him? Well that was a no brainer. Of course he knew. Fury wasn't exactly _stupid _now, was he?

She let the man continue on with his pointless rambling, though her mind was elsewhere, focusing on her target. He reminded him of her. Its true what they say about what one sees in another's eyes then, hey?

Cold. Unfeeling. Dark. And that was exactly what she was. That's exactly what he was.

...At least, now. Maybe not in the past, maybe not once upon a time in a forgotten life... but this was her now. This was him now. This was them in this instant in time... This was how the world had shaped them both. They had taken critical failures, and used them to create an impossibly strong shield to protect themselves from the world.

"Nina!"

"What?" She asked irritably.

"I want this job done as soon as you can! Please!"

"I told you already, I shot him in the head and he didn't fucking die. It critically failed. If I can't do that, then how else am I gonna kill him? You said that all you did was resurrect him, insert a generator, and that's it, sent him off on his way to do your bidding! If that is the case, then this... _thing, _this _human cyborg _should be able to die like an _ordinary human_ can. A shot to the head, and then fall to the ground..." A pause, "Or to the heart... I haven't tried that one yet..."

"Attack his generator. Destroy that, and you will destroy Fury."

"Where did you put the gener-"

He had hung up before the question even left her mouth. With a huff, the assassin continued on her way, going to keep an eye out for Bryan once again. After their little fight last night, however, she was sure that he was going to be out of sight, and looking for her especially.

* * *

Nina returned to her apartment to gather some more equipment for the assassination, all the while still pondering on where that fool Abel may have put the generator. The arm? No, she didn't see anything metallic... The neck? No, no, it was bare aside from the tattoo...

She hauled out her sniper rifle with one arm and looked at it with a dark grin. This was her baby... This thing had killed many other people before. Mobsters. Political figures. The occasional innocent person. Bryan Fury would be just another name to its imaginary list.

Williams put it on the floor and thereafter zipped up her bag, looking at the equipment she now had. It wasn't much, but it was all she needed, and if some bastard decided to walk in the way of her fired shot, or walk near one of the grenades she had gathered together... Well that wouldn't be her fault now, would it?

Deciding to work from her apartment, which was on the corner of a very busy street, the Irish woman gathered her things to the corner of the room and opened the window. The white curtains continued blowing in the gentle breeze, battering her in her pale face. She pushed them away, and with her cold, steely blue eyes, kept a look out for her target.

Maybe the generator was on his leg? She couldn't feel anything from the few times she managed to land a kick there, or a dagger strike; and she couldn't see any physical bump under those nice snake skin pants...

Wait. _Nice?_ Scratch that thought.

Two in the afternoon buzzed with city life. People scurried from one place to another, jumping from one store to another in hopes of finding something for their wife, or for their children, to purchase. Such idiots. Really, to care is weakness. She wondered when the fools would realise this mistake.

The assassin was growing bored with her silent watch. Her sniper rifle was being held in both of her hands, as she sat on the ground, still peering out the window. She had been at it now since ten in the morning, and there was no sign of Bryan. It increasingly infuriated the older Williams sister. Where the hell could he be?

The moment that thought left her head, her target came sprinting around the corner. She saw people scattering apart, like a parting wave, and saw Lei Wulong chasing after him, along with another officer running behind. What could they possibly want with Fury?

When Nina spotted the hand gun in the cop's hands, and that dark glint in his brown eyes, she realised that he was going to either capture him, or kill him, for whatever reason. Judging by the anger that was clearly painted on Wulong's face, and on his assistant's face, she assumed the latter.

_Bryan is not yours to destroy._

She put down her sniper rifle, grabbed her beloved, loaded hand gun, and ran out of her room, making sure to lock the door so no one came in and stole her equipment, all the while another thought going through her dark mind.

_He's mine to kill._

Nina veered around the corner, now downstairs, and powered her way out the door, shoving it open violently, and continued in her chase to get Lei and his back up away from her target. He was _her _target, and her target _alone_. No fucking cop was going to get their hands on him.

By the time she had found them, the two policemen had corned the American. On his left was a tall brick wall, and on his right was 'Marshall's Restaurant', which appeared to be mildly busy. Both were pointing their weapons at him, and on his face was a dark smirk.

His gruff voice soon sounded, "Go on then, shoot me. I dare you."

The other cop, who was not Lei, gritted his teeth, acted on his emotions, and pulled the trigger, complying with Fury's request, hoping to shoot him dead. He could hear the panicked cries of the people in 'Marshall's Restaurant', and ignored them, still hurting inside. He killed his younger, missing brother yesterday. It wasn't like he was doing anything, just passing through an alleyway, with a knife to probably protect himself in case someone crazy like him came along... And... just...

"Oh my God..."

The Irish woman's eyes widened slightly with shock. She was standing behind the two cops, a fair distance, and saw that the shot was directly aimed at, and now perfectly lodged in, the heart. And still, the cyborg didn't go down. He was still living and breathing. The attack was a critical failure.

"Do you see now, Williams? You can't kill me."

Wulong and his back up officer turned their heads to see the assassin standing there, a gun lowered and in her hands. Lei spotted the weapon and raised his own at Nina, aiming it at her head threateningly, his mouth in a hard, firm line.

Her cold, steely blue eyes remained focused on Fury as he slipped past both policemen, leaving, safe now, but not for long. _He would _meet his end by her cold hands, if it was the last thing she ever did... She didn't know why she was suddenly so bent on destroying the 31-year-old, but it didn't matter.

"Lei! He's gone!"

As the super cop's head turned around to where Bryan had previously been, Nina too slipped away.

* * *

A simple assassination job had never been so long and tiring. Nina Williams had been assigned this mission by Doctor Abel a month ago. The last time she ran into Bryan Fury was two weeks ago, at a park. He had been sitting by himself, resting his chin on his fist, his elbows on his thighs, thinking. It was night time, as most of their encounters had been (totalling nine so far), and she had been hiding behind a large tree, sniper rifle ready. But before she could shoot, he had left with a sad sigh.

That sad sigh had been with her, and she couldn't help but think something was troubling him. That simple sigh showed her that he had a heart, somewhere inside that deep, dark personality. It made her think that maybe she had one too, somewhere inside herself, once upon a time.

"This is unacceptable, Williams!" Abel screeched into the phone, his voice going hoarse at some parts, "You promised that you'd have the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible! And you've still _failed_ to deliver what you've promised!"

Nina took a glance at her cellphone, which was on loud speaker, whilst she continued brushing her blonde hair, "Look, I haven't seen Bryan for the last two weeks. I think he's gone into hiding..."

"Then seek him out!"

She furrowed her eyebrows, "I've been doing so and I haven't found him yet. Doctor, I can't exactly see through clothing, so it'd be nice if you told me where the generator was. All that thing needs is a couple of bullets, and its down. Maybe a grenade if we're out in the open and to make sure that the generator is completely destroyed. So... where did you put it?"

There was a long pause before his voice came to life on the other end, "I don't remember."

Her body froze, her hands in the middle of tying up her hair into a ponytail. A few seconds ticked by before she shouted, "You don't remember?! You must be joking... How could you forget...? You built him yourself! One surely can't forget such a creation."

"Reanimating Fury was a fair while ago, Williams. I'm an old man. My memory's not as good as it used to be. Surely you would understand in regards to _how_ _easily _memories come and go."

"Don't you fucking patronise me."

A dial tone followed those five angry words.

* * *

Later that day, Nina had taken a long walk, alone. She left all weapons in her hotel room, knowing that her martial arts skills would be suffice should she any sort of encounter trouble.

The reason she took a walk was to clear her head. Abel fucking knew better than to even _touch _upon the fact that her memory had been tinkered with. _Especially _with the way that he had decided to use it as a taunting mechanism. Stupid old man. At the moment, a part of her wished that Bryan would just come and kill her employer immediately. Fuck the money.

The Irish woman had found her way to the park once more, where she had encountered the American the last time. The trees and grass seemed greener than last time, but then again it was late afternoon, around five, as opposed to eleven at night. The sun lit the place up in a brilliant display of colour, and it mildly calmed her down.

Her cold, steely blue eyes fell upon a figure sitting at another light brown bench. She squinted, and saw the form of Bryan not so far in front of her at said bench. Damn. Why didn't she bring a weapon? There was no way her fist or foot would be able to smash through the generator and destroy it...

"I know you're there, Williams."

His voice made her jump for a moment. Nina took a few more steps forward and hesitated, before sitting next to her target. He was in the same sitting position as last time, and by the look on his face (which she had fleetingly glanced at), something was seriously troubling him.

They sat in silence for a while... In total silence. No bird dared to chirp, and no child dared to shout out in pain or in joy. The wind, whilst there and gentle, did not hum or howl, and the normally busy road nearby did not grumble with passing vehicles.

"You seem blue," She stated for no apparent reason, her hands clad in purple gloves happily nestled on top of her right leg, which was crossed over the other.

From the corner of her eye, she could see him smirk slightly, "Must be the outfit."

Choosing to disregard and not react to his joke, deeming it a critical failure, the assassin rolled her ankle in a bored fashion, wondering why she was even sitting here in the first place. It was so unlike her. She was supposed to be cold, unfeeling, and dark. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. This wasn't supposed to be happening at all. Then again, neither was the time when she helped him escape the police.

More silence ensued, until Fury broke it a little while later, "I'm dying."

This caught her by surprise. Nina's voice remained monotonous, "I thought you couldn't die."

"My generator's running out of power, and I have no way of fixing it up. I can feel it failing that little bit more with every passing day."

"Go to your _Daddy_. He'll make everything all better."

"This isn't the time to fucking joke."

"Then go to Doctor Boskonovitch. He can help you."

"He's too bent on trying to play God."

"No one else can help you?"

The American shrugged, tugging at his dark blue shirt, pulling it back down over the newly exposed lower back. Cold, steely blue eyes finally detected a metal portion, thrown along side skin, and it was here Williams realised that the generator was in the core part of his torso, "I doubt anyone will be wanting to help me, let alone be able to."

She remained silent for a long while. She didn't know what to say, and was sure there were no words she could utter that would ease the pain. How can you give condolence to a dying individual you don't even know or remotely care about...?

_If I don't care... then why am I sitting here in the first place?_

That was a good point...

With a slight, barely detectable sigh, she placed her right hand on his left shoulder, and turned her head a little to look at him, "I can't say 'I'm sorry', because we both know that those words won't fix the situation at hand, or make it any easier."

As she removed her hand, her target turned his head to the left and looked up at her through aching eyes. For the first time, the assassin could see a totally different emotion ebbed within those orbs. There was no cold, unfeeling or dark attributes within this time, as opposed to the other times she had seen his eyes. Only fear.

Fear of the unknown. Fear of death.

But Bryan had died before. What was so different this time? Doctor Abel had brought him back to life, made him into a human cyborg, into something completely different... What was so fucking different about it this time that he was reduced from a fearless, violent individual into a cowering, confused man? Maybe it was because he didn't want to go through all the pain again...

Or perhaps no one ever got used to dying, no matter how many times that lucky person had been brought back to life.

"Nina..." He whispered, his voice trembling slightly.

Her face remained stern as she turned to face him wholly, acknowledging the call.

"Tell me it's alright."

"What do you mean?"

"Just tell me it's alright."

It appeared she was not going to get any answers off of him any time soon, but she refused to sucuumb if there was no reason to back it up. The Irish woman's gaze returned to straight ahead of her, where she barely saw the sun anymore. The sky was losing its orange and pink streaks, and they were being replaced by dark grey black marks. Night time was coming, and the sun was failing.

The assassin stood and began to leave silently. Her cold, steely blue eyes remained emotionless as she followed the path that she came by, hearing Bryan utter with ache six words that would've undoubtedly made her task that much more difficult.

"I don't want to die again..."

* * *

Nina Williams was lying on her stomach atop a tall business building, her eyes scanning for her 31-year-old target with binoculars. She had her sniper rifle by her side, ready and loaded to take a shot at the American who threatened the life of his jittery creator, Doctor Abel, whose grounds she was on, whose building she was upon.

She thought back to the previous evening and realised that although she had been hired to kill Fury, she did somewhat care about him. If she still had a heart, if she wasn't so cold, unfeeling and dark, then maybe she would've acknowledged it and acted upon it more strongly... or at least know what to do. But she had given up her feelings a long time ago, deciding that to become a proper assassin, it was best to dispose of them, otherwise said assassin would've been a criticl failure in the business. He or she wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger when the need came.

It annoyed her how they still managed to seep through, even only a trickle, like small drops of water.

After much careful deliberation, she decided it was best to still carry out her mission, but not for herself or for her employer. It was for Bryan. He was dying anyway, and if she managed to kill him, at least this way, he would die quicker, and suffer less. She had wondered in the early hours of the morning if it was painful for him to be dying this way... But either way, death was an ugly experience, and it was always painful in many different ways.

Her target soon walked around the corner, alert as ever. Bryan was back to his usual, cocky self, strutting down the street as if he owned the place, catching the eye of a fair amount of women, and so on. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, and his eyes were darting around, keeping an eye out either for the assassin, for the police, or for Abel's guards. It appeared he was going to raid this section today in search of his creator.

Williams breathed in and grabbed her sniper rifle, aiming up the shot carefully. She _physically saw _the generator on the left side of his lower back yesterday afternoon. If she missed, she was screwed. It would be a critical failure. Bryan would know that she was here, and would either bail, or attempt to fight back. Knowing the way he thought, it would be the latter of the two options.

Maintaining a regulated breathing pattern, the assassin placed her right index finger on the trigger, ready to fire at any time. She directed the weapon along Fury's path, following his movements, waiting for him to either _really _slow down, or cease walking completely.

_Take the first shot, _She reminded herself. It was something her Father used to say.

Unfortunately, her target didn't slow down at all. As a matter of fact, he sped up once the guards spotted him trying to blandly enter the complex. What was he thinking? Of course he was going to be spotted if he just waltzed up...

But maybe it was what he wanted - to cause a scene.

Security began to scatter everywhere, pointing their weapons at him threateningly, telling him to stop where he was, and if he dared to move another inch, that he would be shot. The American dared to move, and was indeed shot at, however in all the wrong places.

Nina's eyes narrowed further as she watched her target lob a grenade into the mass of guards before him. He ran back and to the side as it exploded, taking with it many of the individuals. Once the path was clear, Fury ran straight down, hearing the alarm be sounded, ignoring it.

He continued his charge straight down the main entrance, whipping out a hand gun of his own, firing it at any incoming guards. He had a grenade in the other hand, ready to throw it at any given time, where it was necessary.

It was when Williams lost sight of him did she grab her trusty hand gun and run down the stairs at the back of the building that led up to the rooftop. She ran as fast as she could, careful not to trip over her own feet, and followed the path of destruction that the 31-year-old had left in his wake. He wasn't going to get away from her this time.

The run to the front door was long and tiring. Her cold, steely blue eyes detected more forces flooding inside the building, hoping to get a piece of Bryan, and kill him, so Abel would be alright, and so he or she would be rewarded for their efforts. They seemed to ignore Nina. It was as though they were aware that she too was working for the Doctor.

His psychotic laughter soon sounded, and she realised that she wasn't too far away from him. More shots went off, and gurgled cries and screams of the dying accompanied the sound. The smoke from his gun wafted down the corridors and filled her nostrils.

Footsteps continued, and the assassin realised he was moving once again, towards the centre of this laboratory, where Abel was. She followed after him, stepping quietly, trying to go undetected by him, moving like a silent ghost.

A hand enclosed around her ankle, catching her off guard. The older Williams sister jumped slightly, then looking down, seeing a man looking up at her through pleading, dying eyes. His voice was fading at the back of his throat, "You... Please... Kill him... Kill Bryan..."

Her eyes narrowed as she stepped out of his weakened hold and continued on her way as quickly and silently as possible, not once looking back.

* * *

"Abel!"

"Bryan?"

The Doctor was answered with a swift right punch to the side of his head. He cried out in pain, falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He hurriedly scurried, making an attempt to stand, but was grabbed by the American from the back of his white lab coat.

He was soon face to face with his creation, and found words uncontrollably spluttering from his lips, "B-Bryan... How nice to see you... What've you been up to lately...?" Then the cowardly words came when he noticed the hand gun in the opposite hand, pointing directly at him, "Don't! Don't shoot! Please!"

A dark smirk arrived, "You are to repair my generator... NOW."

"O-of course, I will, I shall, just put me down and I'll get right on it!"

Fury followed the instructions, but still held his creator by the collar of the white lab coat. He didn't trust him, and spoke once more. His voice was weak, and his breathing laboured, "You have half an hour, old man. Or I will kill you."

Abel nodded and tried to calmly walk towards the table, where his main instruments were. He cleared the work area, and opened the drawer, looking for his screwdriver, and came across something much, much worse, that would ensure his survival, and the destruction of his creation...

A self destruct button, made especially for Bryan Fury, should the need arise. And as far as he was concerned, the need was here. He had forgotten all about it. Then again, he was an old man, and forgot about many things, these days... Why, if he remembered that he had this, then he wouldn't have had to hire Nina in the first place, and he wouldn't have had to hide in fear for the last month or so! Of course, if he pressed it, then he too would be killed in the explosion.

Maybe, if in an extreme case of doubt, he should press _the other _self destruct button that was proudly sitting on the wall before him... The one for the laboratory, in case he died, so that way that prick Boskonovitch, or any other scientist, didn't get his information.

Cold metal met the back of his head. The barrel of the gun dug deeped into his head, "_Move, _scum!"

The Doctor sighed and began pulling out other bits and bobs with his trembling hands, getting ready to repair Bryan's generator. Perhaps once the deed was done, his creation would allow him to live. The question was, for how long?

The door burst open. Both heads turned to see an individual standing there, though it was hard to make that person out, for he/she was hiding in the shadows. But when the individual spoke, it was clear who it was, "Drop him, Bryan."

His lips curved upward on both sides into a vague smile, his breathing - still laboured, "Ah, Williams..."

The assassin's face remained stern as she walked into the light. Her purple outfit shone under the bright light, as did her hand gun, gleaming proudly in both of her thin hands, "I see you took my advice and came to your Daddy."

"I was always gonna do this."

"Sure."

The three individuals remained silent. Both Nina and Abel could hear Fury attempt to keep his breathing quiet, but with every passing moment, it got louder and more labourous. He was dying very quickly, much to the delight of the latter.

The American's head snapped towards the Doctor. He pressed the gun further into the back of Abel's head, pulling the man's frail body further into it. He smirked when his creator froze, his quiet snickering now completely ceased, all because of the heavy breathing that was coasting down his neck, and the click of the gun, "What're you laughing about, Abel?"

"Your demise."

Nina saw the 31-year-old's eyes flicker with blood thirst, "Fury, don't!"

His teeth gritted together with uncontrollable anger the moment those two words fell from the old man's mouth. He fired, the scientist's blood going all over the place, smearing the white wall before him, like faded red ink on pure white paper.

But once he realised what he had done, once the smoke rose into his nose, once he saw the blood drip onto the white lab coat, he suddenly threw the corpse of his creator into the wall, taking a few steps back thereafter, "No!!"

A click sound went off, followed by alarms. The assassin and the cyborg looked to where Abel had landed, and both immediately winced. In his rage, Fury threw the Doctor into the wall, and his body had hit the Laboratory Self Destruct button, before landing on the work desk.

_"All personnel evacuate. This building will self destruct in two minutes."_

Nina lowered her weapon, watching as anger continued to take hold of Bryan. He lifted a nearby table, realising that by killing Abel, he had doomed himself. He screamed out threw it into nearby glass and electrical equipment, watching as it completely shattered. He continued on in his rampage, his gun long forgotten on the cold floor, as piece by piece, he destroyed more equipment.

By the end, he had collapsed into the centre of the floor, his breathing now far too laboured, his heart racing a mile a minute, and his head feeling as though it was constantly spinning. The Irish woman couldn't help but frown slightly, not used to seeing her target this way, realising that his end was around the corner.

She walked over towards him and sat next to him, looking at him, seeing him look back. Her gun had been put away, and she had no intentions of attacking him now. She didn't want to be the cause of his death if it was already so near.

"Don't look at me like that. You knew this was gonna happen."

"But it wasn't supposed to happen this way."

"I'd prefer _this_ method of death, as opposed to the one where _you_ kill me."

Nina shrugged at the man who was lying on his back, his hand on where she assumed the generator was. after a few seconds, she asked, "Is it painful? Dying like this, that is..."

"Mmhm. Its like having your life zapped out of you."

A light chuckle. The assassin gave him a vaguely sad smile, though it was miniscule, a smile of her own.

This... this was a different experience for her. Sure, Nina had been trained to kill, and had killed many people before. It was her job, and she loved it. But this here... sitting here _with _someone who was dying, was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. And although she didn't know Bryan very well, and only fleetingly felt for him... this was painful for her.

_"All personnell evacuate. This building will self destruct in one minute."_

"You should get out of here, you know. You don't have to sit here."

"But I want to."

He smiled at her - a genuine and honest one. With the little strength he had left, Bryan grabbed her hand that was nearest to him, her right one, and held it lightly, too weak to put any further strength into the gesture, "Thank you."

Nina said nothing, and merely sat by him, watching his life slowly wither away. His breathing started to slip away, becoming fainter and fainter, and his eyelids became heavy, slowly coming down to cover those cold, unfeeling and dark orbs.

She slipped her hand from his and stroked his hair lightly, whispering to him, "It's alright."

He smiled at her again, his voice now almost completely gone, and through fading eyes, watched as the assassin sat up and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead - for the heart she once had. His smile grew, "Thank you, Nina."

With that, his last breath dissolved, and he lay motionless and unafraid on the floor, as cold as the ground below him, as dead as silence. The assassin took her gloved hand away and placed it back in her lap, staring at the face of her target, who was now at peace.

_"All personnel evacuate. This building will self destruct in thirty seconds."_

Williams stood to her feet, leaving Fury and Abel in the room, knowing ther was no way of being able to retrive one or both, and escaping the laboratory successfully with them. She took a deep breath in and ran out of the main room as fast as she could, navigating her way through the long, winding corridors, still smelling death from the earlier events. Why did the Doctor have to make so many long and twisty corridors?

_"All personnel evacuate. This building will self destruct in twenty seconds."_

_Keep running, keep running. You don't want to end up dead either... _She thought to herself, her feet slamming onto the floor, creating a cold echo that bounced between the white walls.

She tripped over an arm. Her head smashed into the floor, and with a moan of pain, she tried to stand again, her cold steely blue eyes observing the guard she tripped over. It was the same one who had grabbed her earlier, and asked her to kill Bryan.

_"All personnel evacuate. This building will self destruct in ten seconds."_

The Irish woman continued on her way hurriedly, panting heavily, feeling sweat drip down her body with every step she took. She squinted, seeing light from outside, and realised she was finally near the exit. She was so close, so close... She couldn't stop now.

_"All personnel evacuate. This building will self destruct in five seconds."_

She pushed herself further, crossing out into the open, and continued running, attempting to get away from the building, knowing full well that the explosion was about to come.

The bang tore through the environment, drowning out the sound of alarms and screaming people. Nina continued running as far away as she could, seeing parts of the building shoot over her head and land in front of her. The debris flew in all directions, marking what had occured to the unknowing.

The assassin tripped over from exhaustion, landing on asphalt, her upper arms scraping across it, leaving traces of grit on her skin, and of blood on the ground. She sat herself up, her legs lying to one side, and watched as the building continued to fall apart in front of her very eyes, knowing that someone who was as cold, unfeeling and dark as herself was also destroyed, not to mention his creator.

In the back of her mind, Nina felt things change, as though emotions were still trying to desperately come through, such as saddness. She shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows, watching for a little while longer. She stood, brushing the dirt off her, and turned to leave, heading for her hotel room once more.

Sure, this mission may have been a critical failure on her part... But still, she took away something that she wouldn't soon forget, and that in itself made the mission morph into a lesson. And that in itself was an experience that was worth more than the money that she would've been given for the life she decided not to take.


End file.
